by H G Lynch
“Aww, look at him. Cute little foxie,” she cooed, itching Hiro’s pointy fox ears. He was a lot heavier than her cat, but not too heavy for her to carry him easily. He rubbed his head against her shoulder, and she could swear, if foxes could purr, he’d be purring.
“You realise he’s just enjoying being pressed against your chest, right?” Sherry was the one to comment, and she started laughing at the expression that crossed Ember’s face.
Reid apparently found it very funny, too. Ricky was biting his lip, looking down at the book on his lap as if it was suddenly fascinating — Ember knew he was just trying to hide his face so she wouldn’t see him laughing, too. The most astonishing thing, though, was Raphael. He actually chuckled, a quiet, amused sound amongst their riotous laughter.
Everyone whipped around to look at him with wide eyes and open mouths, grinning in their amazement. Raphael flinched, his expression instantly going blank.
“Ha! You laughed! Finally, we made you crack!” Ember clapped excitedly.
Raphael just looked at her solemnly.
“Oh, come on, dude. We heard you. Chill out, Raz,” Reid chuckled.
“Yeah, you can’t fool us now. We know you’re not completely emotionless,” Sherry piped up, her green eyes bright.
“It’s alright to feel, you know? How could you want to protect humanity without feeling something for them?” Ricky said passively, but he was smiling as well.
Raphael, obviously knowing he was caught, sighed and shook his head. “I believe I have come to feel…fond of you all,” he said, his voice just almost toneless. But not quite. “It was not by chance that I was assigned to be your guardian angel, Ember. I had long since lost the ability to feel. After watching humans killing each other in wars and murders and various unprovoked crimes, it became easier not to feel than to feel despair over the state of humanity. But when you were born, we angels knew that you were the one from the prophecy. It’s clear in your aura. I have seen what damage the supernatural can have on humanity, how it rips it to shreds and pieces it back to together like a broken vase. And like a broken vase, it is never quite the same, even when all the pieces are put back in order.” He paused, his dark, dark eyes fixed on Ember, full of…emotion. An emotion she couldn’t identify, but emotion none the less. “But you, Ember…You have survived what many couldn’t. You have been thrown into the belly of some of the worst of the supernatural, and yet you have retained your humanity. Your nature has not changed. You were badly hurt by Owen’s betrayal, heart-broken over your last serious argument with Reid, desperately shattered by Sherry’s death. Most people in your position would have turned cold and ruthless or gone insane very quickly. Yet, you still feel pain and love and sympathy. You care about things; you have passion. You have compassion and lust and determination. You are a powerful supernatural, but you are, inside, still human. That is why you are destined to be the one to save humanity from the supernatural disaster The Society plans. Any other Elemental would not have these weaknesses you call emotions, but they also would not have the strength that you possess because of your emotions. They would not care about humanity; they would let The Society proceed with their plans for a ‘higher being’. Your love for your friends and for your country will give you the strength you need to defeat them, and your stubborn will and determination will help you push through the hardest parts of what is to come.” Raphael tilted his chin up. “It is for that reason that the other angels assigned me to be your guardian angel. They realised that you could teach me to feel again, that your influence was inescapable. And they were right. You have shown great courage and loyalty; something I had forgotten humans could possess. So I stay here on Earth instead of returning to heaven, because I do not want to lose this ability to feel again. I will stay to ensure your safety, and the safety of your friends, or else I might…worry…about you all,” Raphael finished talking, and smiled. It was a tiny, soft smile that did more to make him look human than the jeans and t-shirt or lack of wings ever could.
Ember was speechless. Apparently, so was everyone else. The room was silent. Even Hiro didn’t make a sound. The only noise in the room was the crackle of the fire and Ember and Sherry’s breathing. Seriously? Ember thought, My life has turned into a clichéd movie. I have restored the angel’s faith in humanity, and now I must save human kind from the evil scientists. Her head hurt, and she really wanted to bang it on the coffee table.
Instead, she took a breath, looked around the room. Ricky and Sherry looked stunned, and Hiro…well, it was hard to tell what he was thinking seeing as foxes didn’t really have expressions. But his ears were twitching, his head tilted, and his amber eyes were dark as he looked at Ember inquisitively. Reid, though, hardly looked surprised at all. He looked amused, and a little arrogant, like he’d known this would happen. His blue eyes were full of pride and love as he met Ember’s gaze, his angelic face alight. He, honest to God, smiled. Casually.
Ember gaped. “Why are you the only person in this room who isn’t stunned?” she asked quietly, prompted to speech by his…his nonchalance.
He smirked, but it was edged with softness. He reached over and curled his long, delicate fingers around hers. “I already knew you were amazing. It doesn’t surprise me that you, of all people, could make an angel feel again. After all, you’ve done more incredible things. You made me fall in love with you.” He smiled, very, very tenderly.
Ember felt her heart give a sweetly aching throb, and smiled back gently.
He leaned forward and placed a light kiss on her forehead. “I love you, Firefly,” he whispered.
Feeling irrational tears prickle her eyes, she whispered back, “I love you, too.” She squeezed his fingers briefly.
Then Ricky cleared his throat. “Sorry to ruin the romantic moment, but, um, we have work to do. Raphael, we’re glad to have you around, and it’s great that you…care about us all, really.”
Raphael nodded, and a lock of loose brown hair fell into his face. He didn’t bother pushing it back. Sherry looked like she was trying not to cry, and Ember wanted to giggle; they really were such girls sometimes.
Pretending like her heart wasn’t caught in her throat, Ember drew herself up and put on a serious face. “Kee’s right. We’ve got work to do. Starting with this warding potion. And I think I know just who can help us.”
Chapter Eleven
The house in front of them was a large, Victorian house that both Sherry and Ember knew well. Reid and Ricky exchanged a glance.
“Your potion woman lives here? And here I was expecting something a little more…dingy,” Reid commented dryly.
Ember snorted, but didn’t bother telling him that the person who lived here wasn’t exactly a potion woman.
She pressed the button for the doorbell, and hoped for an answer.
A minute later, the door swung open and a tall, skinny girl stood behind it. Her hair was cropped and dyed a striking shade of purple, hanging around a heart-shaped face with a narrow nose and wide hazel eyes.
“Ember!” the girl cried, breaking into a grin.
“Julie!” Ember threw her arms around the tall girl for a moment, then drew back, smiling. Julie was an old school pal of Sherry and Ember’s, and if anyone around here knew how to make a warding potion, it would be this girl.
“When did you get back? I sent you a letter and an early birthday card couple of weeks ago. Did you get it?” Julie zipped up her baggy grey hoodie further and wrapped her arms around herself, shivering.
Ember shook her head. “I got back here about two weeks ago, but thank you anyway. Are your parents in? We’ve got some, ah, things to talk to you about,” Ember said delicately.
Julie looked past her and grinned at Sherry. “Hey, Sherry. I should’ve known you wouldn’t let Ember come back alone.” Julie winked and Sherry laughed.
“God only knows what she’d get up to if I wasn’t around,” Sherry beamed.
Then Julie noticed Reid and Ricky —they’d left Hiro and Raz b
ack in Ellon to do more research, knowing this visit would be shocking enough without the Kitsune and angel along for the ride — and her pretty hazel eyes widened.
“Oh.” Her eyes flicked back to the girls with a meaningful look that Ember was getting used to. “Um, no, my parents are out. I guess you’d better come in. It’s freezing out here.” Julie stepped back from the door to let them in.
Inside the house, it was very warm, and the smell of cranberries drifted lazily from the red candles placed carefully around the large, dim living room. The curtains were closed, and the black leather sofas, marooned on the cream carpet, looked inviting.
“Sit down. Jeez, Emz, you’ve been here enough times. Right. What did you want to talk about?”
Ah, that was the Julie she remembered. Straight to the point. The tall girl folded herself on the carpet near the TV, facing them all on the sofas. Her baggy jeans were too long, covering her striped socks even when she crossed her legs.
“Um…well…” Ember hesitated. Reid shot her a warning look. She could tell what he was thinking: She’s a human. Don’t tell her about the supernatural stuff. Only thing was, Ember felt Julie had a right to know, if she was going to help them out. She chewed her lip thoughtfully for a second, then sighed, looked at Julie. “Have you still got that potions book you showed me ages ago? We’re going to need to take a look at it,” she said slowly.
Julie looked confused for half a second, then shrugged, and got to her feet.
“Yeah, it should be in my room somewhere. I’ll go get it. Be right back.” Julie didn’t ask questions as to why they needed it; she just accepted what she asked for and went to get the book.
That was one of the reasons Ember felt Julie could be trusted with the knowledge of the supernatural.
Reid turned on her as soon as Julie was out of earshot. “You are not going to tell her, Emz,” he said firmly, his jaw set. It was a command, not a question.
Ember felt a flare of rebellious irritation. “Yes, I am. She has a right to know. We can’t ask for her help and not tell her. That just feels…wrong. And Julie isn’t like most humans. She won’t freak out, she won’t go hunting for supernatural creatures, she won’t even ask a lot of questions. She most definitely won’t tell anyone, believe me. We can trust her.” She hated that she sounded like she was pleading for his permission. She wasn’t. She was telling him. She was pleading with him not to friggin’ argue with her. Not now.
He looked appalled for a second, like he hadn’t really believed she meant to tell Julie, then he got angry. “Not a chance, Ember. She’s human! I don’t care if you trust her, I don’t care if she’s your friend. For all we know, she could be with The Society!” he hissed, obviously trying to keep his voice down.
Ember glared at him, laughed mirthlessly. “You don’t know her! If you did, you’d know how ridiculous that sounds. Julie doesn’t deal with people, she sticks to books, like I used to do. Her religion hands her a lot stuff most people wouldn’t believe, and she should know what’s really out there. She’s not with The Society, and she has a right to know! It’s my choice whether or not to tell her, she’s my friend. I won’t even tell her about you two, I’ll just tell her about me…and Sherry, if she’ll let me…?” Ember cast a glance at Sherry, who hesitated, then nodded.
“She should know. She’ll understand,” Sherry agreed.
At that, Ricky’s mouth fell open, as if he couldn’t believe Sherry was agreeing with Ember’s insanity.
“Sherry, you can’t be serious! There’s no way I’m letting you—”
Oooh. Ricky, you should’ve kept your mouth shut, Ember thought, wincing.
Sherry whipped around to glower at him viciously through narrowed ice-cold green eyes. “You don’t let me do anything. I’ll do what I want, and I agree with Ember. Julie is our friend, and you two don’t have to stay if you don’t want to,” Sherry snapped.
Ember grinned humourlessly. “She’s right. You two can fuck off if you don’t like it. Nobody’s making you stay. We’ll tell Julie and get the warding potion instructions, and leave you two out of it.” She met Reid’s furious gaze with a glare of her own, angry and stubborn. Her hand tingled with the urge to slap him.
He spoke through gritted teeth. “And just how do you plan on telling her how you became what you are, without telling her about us?” he spat mockingly.
Ember bit down on her tongue and curled her fingers into a fist on her thigh. I will not kill him. I will not kill him.
After counting to twenty, she answered coldly and quietly. “I will figure it out. Right now, I think you should leave.” She made sure he knew it wasn’t just a suggestion.
He looked contemptuously incredulous for a moment, then his eyes iced over and he looked severely pissed off. Like he might just throttle her. Instead, he lurched to his feet and stormed out of the room in a blur of motion. She heard the door slam as he left. Sherry looked at Ricky, who was clenching and unclenching his jaw, angrier than Ember had seen him in a while. His soft aqua eyes had taken on a harsh gem-like glitter.
“Sherry, I—” he started in a cold voice, but Sherry cut him off.
“I think you should leave, too. We can talk later,” she said.
Ricky opened his mouth like he would argue, but even Ember wouldn’t want to argue with Sherry when she had that hard, impassive look on her face. So, with a sound awfully like a hiss, he left, too. At least he didn’t slam the door.
Once the boys were gone, Sherry and Ember exchanged half-mournful, half-stubbornly glad looks.
When Julie finally returned with a large, leather-bound black book in her hand, the front stamped with a gold pentagram, she didn’t comment on the boys’ absence. She looked curious and puzzled for a second, then smiled at the girls. “Here it is. Sorry it took so long, my room’s a tip. What kind of potion are you looking for?” she asked, folding herself on the floor again with the book in her lap.
Sherry cast Ember a sideways glance, and Ember took a deep breath. “Actually, Jules, there’s something we’ve got to tell you first. It…it wouldn’t be right to ask for your help without explaining why we need it,” she said.
Julie looked up at them, surprised. “Um, okay. Don’t tell me. You want to hex those guys you were with? You don’t need to explain if that’s the case…” She grinned, but her smile quickly faded as she read the expressions on Sherry and Ember’s faces. “Or not. What’s going on, guys?” she asked warily.
Carefully, Ember explained everything that had happened to them since they’d arrived at Acorn Hills —all the important supernatural stuff anyway — leaving out the part where Reid and Ricky were vampires and it was Reid’s blood that had turned Ember into what she was. She had to use some fancy twisting of facts to make that work, but essentially, the whole story she told Julie —with input from Sherry for her part of the story — was the truth.
Julie let them tell the whole story without many interruptions, only occasionally asking a question or making an insightful comment. She didn’t ask about Reid and Ricky much, though they explained they were their boyfriends. She only wanted to know if the boys knew about…well, everything. With a simple answer of yes, Julie let it go. She wasn’t interested in romantic stories or her friends’ love lives.
When they were done, Ember and Sherry let out heavy breaths and exchanged nervous glances. Julie sat silently for a long moment, her expression unreadable. Ember felt the urge to fidget, picked at a loose thread on the seam of her jeans.
Eventually, Julie made a small noise, shifted the book on her lap. “Hmm. Okay then. I always suspected that stuff was all real. Good to know for sure. So, you need a warding potion?” she said calmly.
And it wasn’t the kind of calm where you knew there was something bubbling under the surface. It was just Julie. She accepted what they’d told her without argument, without even proof, and got down to business. This was why Ember had known they could trust Julie. It was just a pity Reid hadn’t trusted her judgement. He was going
to be pissed off all day, she was sure. That wasn’t going to be fun.
“Um, yeah. Something that works against…humans and…the experiments.” By experiments, Ember meant the people like Rachel Mooring —she was sure there were more of them. Experiments weren’t experiments if they weren’t tried more than once.
“Okay. Something strong then. I think there’s a couple in here that would work against anything the wards perceived as a threat, but they’d need a spell…I suppose that’s not a problem, though, is it?” Julie smiled, flicking through the heavy leather-bound book on her lap.
Ember smiled a little, too. “No, it shouldn’t be. As long as it’s not too hardcore.”
Julie nodded, and kept flipping pages.
It took her only a moment to find the right pages, and she held out the book to Ember. Ember read the page and nodded. “Yeah, that sounds about right. And we’ve got all those ingredients. How do we use it, though?” she asked.
Julie was scrounging in a small cupboard under the TV, and when she came out, she was holding a pen and paper.
“You’ll want to copy down that chant so you don’t forget. And you just spread the powder in an unbroken line in front of every door and window. Anyone who intends to hurt anyone inside the house, won’t be able to pass through.” She handed over the pen and paper, and Ember started scribbling down the chant.
“And…it really works?” Sherry asked, surprised.
Julie shrugged. “I’ve never tried it myself — I don’t have the magic mojo — but a friend of mine used it and it worked fine. So, yeah, it should,” she said, toying absently with the pentagram pendant on the string around her neck. Ember had never seen Julie without that necklace.
Once Ember had the spell copied down, and the instructions, she thanked Julie and handed back the book and the pen. She and Sherry got to their feet, and Julie stood gracefully.
